Five shillings for WAAF Peggy!

Royal Air Force Coningsby motor transport driver, Air Specialist Class 1 (AS1) William Anderson has presented 99-year-old Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) veteran Mrs Peggy Terry with five wartime shillings.

AS1 Anderson was deployed to South Wales as part of Operation Rescript, the mission to provide support to the NHS during the pandemic. He was driving an ambulance whilst crewed with a paramedic and they attended Mrs Terry’s home in February.

As a veteran, Peggy recognised the beret worn by William, and during the conversation it transpired that Mrs Terry was also based at Coningsby during her World War Two service.

During their chat, they were looking through her discharge papers and saw a reference to Mrs Terry still being owed five shillings for her service.

As a gesture of appreciation for her service, RAF Coningsby asked AS1 Anderson to present the shillings. The shillings are dated 1941 to 1945, to reflect the years she served.

William said, ‘It was a great experience to work with the Welsh Ambulance Service, the variety of people I met and the opportunity to see what our ‘blue-light’ services do” He continued ‘It was lovely to meet Peggy and to hear of her experiences at Coningsby during the war. For the RAF and for me personally it is tremendously important that we remember and recognise the service of our veterans, so I’m delighted to be here today meeting Peggy again and presenting her with the coins”

Mrs Terry’s daughter, Cathy Jones, said “Our family is grateful to the RAF and to the Welsh Ambulance Service for the care they provided to our mother. It is nice to know that the RAF still cares for its veterans and the presentation today was a lovely gesture on their behalf’